Daily Devotional 8-13-21

Planted by God

Lebanon’s cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that they owe their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite true of every child of God. He is not man-planted, nor self-planted, but God-planted. The mysterious hand of the divine Spirit dropped the living seed into a heart that He had Himself prepared for its reception. Every true heir of heaven knows that it is God who planted him.

Moreover, the cedars of Lebanon do not depend upon man for their watering; they stand on the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our heavenly Father supplies them. So it is with the Christian who has learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even in temporal things; for his continued maintenance he looks to the Lord his God, and to Him alone. The dew of heaven is his portion, and the God of heaven is his fountain.

Again, the cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any mortal power. They owe nothing to man for their preservation from stormy wind and tempest. They are God’s trees, kept and preserved by Him, and by Him alone. It is precisely the same with the Christian. He is not a hothouse plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in the most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection, except this, that the broad wings of the eternal God always cover the cedars that He Himself has planted. Like cedars, believers are full of sap, having enough vitality to stay green, even amid the winter’s snows.

Lastly, the flourishing and majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God only. The Lord, even the Lord alone, has been everything to the cedars, and therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the psalms, “Praise the Lord! Fruit trees and all cedars.”1 In the believer there is nothing that can magnify man; he is planted, nourished, and protected by the Lord’s own hand, and therefore to Him let all the glory be ascribed.

1) Psalm 148:9

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE

Daily Devotional 8-12-21

The Eighth Beatitude: The Persecution of the Gospel

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:10-12).

One of the clearest gospel expositions of this beatitude was given by Martin Luther himself. It is found in his Commentary on Galatians (Luther’s comments are found on pgs. 440-442. I have rearranged the order of the paragraphs to facilitate the purpose of this article, a meditation on the eighth beatitude).

Galatians 5:11. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished.

Christ comforts his disciples in Matthew 5:11–12: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The church cannot permit for this joy to be snatched away from its hands. Thus, I would not wish to enter into a joint agreement with the Pope, the bishops, the princes, and the sectarians. If we had such a joint agreement, it would be an unmistakable sign that we have lost the true doctrine.

In brief, as long as the church teaches the gospel, it will suffer persecution. That’s because the gospel presents God’s mercy and glory, it brings to light the evil shrewdness and trickeries of the devil and it paints him just as he is and tears away from him the mask of God’s majesty with which he appears and deceives the entire world—that is, the Gospel exposes as evil and demonic all worship, religious orders invented by men, and traditions regarding celibacy, meats, and other such things, which men think make them worthy of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Then there is nothing that irritates the devil more than the preaching of the Gospel, for it tears away the mask he uses to appear as God; he is exposed just as he is, the devil and not God. Therefore, it cannot be any other way but as long as the Gospel flourishes, the cross and its offense will follow; otherwise, no one has put a hand on the devil, he’s barely been tickled! But if he’s hit with well-placed blows, he does not rest; he begins to roar out of control and stirs up scandals everywhere.

Then if Christians are to uphold the word of life, don’t be afraid or offended when you see the devil is out and about, roaring everywhere; when you see the world agitated, dictators practicing their cruelty, and sects on the rise. On the contrary, be assured that these are not frightful signs but signs of joy, as Christ Himself said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.” Would to God then that we don’t lose the scandal of the cross; that’s what would happen if we preached what the prince of this world and his cronies would want to hear with delight, the righteousness of works! In that case, we would have a kinder devil, a favorable world, a Pope full of grace, merciful princes. But since we present Christ’s benefits and glory, they persecute and strip us of our goods and lives!…

Paul resorts to every possible resource striving for the Galatians’ return. He now reasons using his own example. “Because I remove righteousness from circumcision, my reward has been (he says) the hate and persecution of the priests and elders and of all my nation. If I were to attribute righteousness to it, the Jews would not only stop persecuting me, but they would also love and highly congratulate me. But since I preach the Gospel of Christ and the righteousness of faith, abolishing the law and circumcision, I suffer persecution. But on the contrary, to avoid this cross and the cruel hate of the entire Jewish nation, the false apostles preach circumcision and thereby obtain and retain the goodwill of the Jews…” Further, they would want nothing more than the lack of dissension, only peace and agreement between Jews and Gentiles. But it is impossible to achieve that without losing the doctrine of faith, which is the doctrine of the cross, which is full of scandalous offenses. Thus when he says, “If I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished,” he wants to say that it would be great foolishness and cause for great indignation if the cross would no longer cause a scandal. He states the same when he says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Cor 1:17). It’s as if he had said, “I will not allow the abolishment of the scandal of the cross of Christ.”

Here, some will say, “Then Christians are really crazy, for of their own free will, they plunge directly into danger, for what else are they doing when they preach and confess the truth? Don’t they realize they are doing nothing else but engaging the hate and enmity of the entire world and stirring up scandals?” This, said Paul, does not offend nor perturb me in the least. Rather, I grow bolder and I’m granted hope by the joyous success and increase of the church, which blooms and grows under the cross, for it is necessary that Christ, the head and husband of the church, reign among His enemies (Ps 100:2). But on the contrary, when the cross is abolished and the tyrants and heretics’ fury ceases on the one hand, and the scandals on the other, and everything is at peace, that’s when the devil is watching over the entrance to the house; that’s a sure sign that he has removed the pure doctrine of God’s word.

When Bernard considered this topic, he said that when Satan besieges the church on every side, be it by subtleties or violence, that’s when the church is at its best condition. But on the contrary, it’s at its worst when surrounded by great calm… Thus, Paul is clear that whatever is preached in times of peace is clearly not the Gospel.

That concludes Luther’s remarks on the persecution of the Gospel. Are we now in a time of peace or persecution? If it’s peace, let’s pray for persecution – any kind – that we may be driven to preach the gospel with all clarity. If it’s persecution – any kind – “Rejoice and be glad [in the gospel], for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:12).

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/the-eighth-beatitude-the-persecution-of-the-gospel

Daily Devotional 8-11-21

Spiritual Amnesia…?

In his recently released, Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in Our World, widely respected Australian journalist, Dr Greg Sheridan writes: ‘In the West… religious belief has been in serious decline in recent years. The loss of faith is part of a broad movement in the culture. It is also partly, … related to a shocking loss of knowledge’ (p.40).

‘The West,’ he continues, ‘is a culture willing itself into amnesia and ignorance, like a patient carefully requesting their medical records and then burning them, so they and their physicians will have no knowledge of what made them sick in the past, and what made them well. … If you believe, as I do, that the Bible is true, this is our society willfully depriving itself of truth’ (p.40).

In his Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 17 Paul the Apostle pulls no punches when he writes: Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds, darkened in their understanding, separated from the love of God, because of the ignorance within them…

Paul is not saying that people who seek to live without God can’t be academically smart. Rather, he is saying that no matter how clever a person is, they need to be taught about God. For no matter how sharp or developed human reasoning might be, it won’t find answers to the meaning of life.

Paul speaks about the futility of our minds without Jesus Christ. Ignorance moves from the mind to produce various moral symptoms. In verse 19 he says: They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The original word for loss of sensitivity is the word from which we get analgesic. Paul is saying that people who don’t believe in God are in a state of self-administered spiritual anaesthesia. Having no spiritual sensitivity, they have a mental block as far as the revealed truth about God.

Now Paul is not saying every non-believer is a libertine. Rather, he is pointing out that over time this is the direction in which our fallen human nature takes us. Yes, there are social inhibitions that check our desires – good families, schools, and social conventions. But, given time, a mind without God will invariably slide in the direction of self-indulgence and sensuality. And, if we’re honest when we look into our own heart, we will surely agree.

That said, Paul goes on to reassure his readers who have come to know God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of them as having learned Christ and being taught in him (verses 20, 22).

It’s very easy to criticize people around us. But let me ask, how many have had the opportunity to learn about God and Jesus Christ? Are you praying for them?

How many people you know understand that the light of Jesus’ righteousness and justice shines through the New Testament into the growing darkness of our world today? How many know that he was someone who could out-think his opponents? Who at a word could heal the sick and even raise the dead? Who could control the forces of nature with a sharp command? Who, following his harrowing crucifixion refused to stay dead in a tomb?

How many realize that the cross of Christ is central to Christianity? How many know that in choosing to die this way – yes, he chose to do it – Jesus took on to his shoulders the death we deserve before God? Jesus’ death reveals a God who loves us far beyond our imagining. Jesus is the hinge of history.

People around us need to be aroused from their ignorance or amnesia and introduced to Jesus Christ through one of the Gospels. The Anglican Connection is planning seminars on October 22 and 23 about an effective way to introduce Jesus to friends through reading John’s Gospel. Details to come next week.

Returning to Ephesians chapter 4, Paul goes on to say that there is even more to knowing Jesus. He is at work transforming our moral living. This is not about a set of rules and regulations. Rather, having a new mind-set about God and the world, we now want to live in a way that honors our new relationship with him.

New Life. Verses 22 and 23 tell us that we should put off the old self,… be renewed… and put on the new self. Being dependent upon God doesn’t mean that we are passive. Being dependent upon God for our daily food doesn’t mean we don’t work for our living, get our food, and make our meals. In the same way, while God in Christ puts a new mind in us, there is the part that we must play.

This is why we are exhorted to struggle against sin, to fight the good fight, and to run the race. We’re not in a spectator sport where we watch God at work in our lives. Rather we are in a long grueling race that requires effort. God’s work is not to save us the effort; rather the Holy Spirit’s work is to enable us to run.

Knowing Christ – and not just knowing about him – means we have a new nature within us, counteracting the virus of self-interest and sin. Slowly and surely, through our reading of God’s Word and the work of God’s Spirit, we are being transformed into what God intends us to be – heirs with Christ in all the glory of the coming kingdom.

Let’s not be overcome with spiritual amnesia but rather live with joy in our hearts and look for ways to bring the truth of God’s good news afresh to those around us.

Be imitators of God… Paul writes in chapter 5. Live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…

A prayer. Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, so that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/spiritual-amnesia/

Daily Devotional 8-10-21

Anticipating the Day of the Lord

In the Old Testament, the prophets spoke of the day of the “visitation of God.” It was seen sometimes as a day of great comfort and rejoicing, and at other times as a day of great distress and judgment.

At the birth of Jesus, God visited the earth. This visitation is celebrated in the Spirit-inspired hymn of Zacharias, in which he twice makes mention of God’s divine visitation (Luke 1:68–69, 78).

The New Testament calls Jesus the “Bishop of our souls.” He is the Bishop Incarnate. His visit to this world has changed the course of history. The initial visit of our heavenly Bishop was cloaked in mystery. He came not as a military general but as a baby in a rock-hewn manger. But He came to care for our souls. He came to see our situation. He came with divine blessing and redemption. He also came with a divine warning.

Our Bishop announced to the world that at some future date He would make a second visit. He promises to appear once more to review His troops. For those who love His coming, His next visit will be an occasion of unspeakable joy and glory. At that visit, the consummation of His bishop’s task will be complete.

For those who ignore the first visit of the Bishop, His second visit will be one of sudden disaster. That will be the day of the Lord, the day Amos described as a day of darkness, with no light in it (Amos 5:18).

Coram Deo

Thank God for the unspeakable joy and glory that awaits you in the day of the Lord.

Passages for Further Study

Luke 1:68–69

Luke 1:78

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/anticipating-day-lord/

Daily Devotional 8-9-21

Planning for Eternity

What will the future be like? What will your income be in five years? What will your health be like in three years? Will civilization be safe for your children and your grandchildren? We ask questions like these, even if only to ourselves. Businesses and ministries also plan for the future, including five- and ten-year plans.

Do you have a two hundred-year plan? Obviously, you expect that you will have died by the end of that period.

What will your death have brought you? Job asked it this way: “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14).

The Gallup Poll on Religion in America indicates that the majority of professing Christians believe in life after death. Most of those, however, reject any real idea of hell. The arguments for a heaven without a hell are based primarily not on sound biblical exegesis but on human sentiment. People simply prefer not to believe in hell. It is a subject very few can discuss dispassionately. Yet to deny the reality of hell, one must stand firmly opposed to the unambiguous teaching of Jesus.

Consider the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19–26. This passage clearly indicates a great chasm between heaven and hell. It is unbridgeable. Where we are in eternity is where we will be in two hundred years. It is where we will be in two thousand years and in two million years.

The very point of this parable is that people are reluctant to heed the biblical warnings of a judgment that truly is final, with all further appeals exhausted (Luke 16:27–31).

Coram Deo

Spend a few minutes today reflecting on your future. What are your plans for your immediate future? What are your long-range plans? Have you made your eternal plans?

Passages for Further Study

Luke 16:22–25

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/planning-eternity/

Daily Devotional 8-6-21

Know Your Enemies

What enemies are around? Errors abound, and new ones appear every hour: Against what heresy am I to be on my guard? Sins creep from their lurking places when the darkness reigns; I need to climb the watchtower and give myself to prayer. Our heavenly Protector anticipated all the attacks that are about to be made upon us, and when the evil designed for us is still in the desire of Satan, He prays for us that our faith will not fail when we are sifted as wheat. Continue then, gracious Watchman, to warn us of our foes, and for Zion’s sake do not remain silent.

“Watchman, what time of the night?” What weather is coming for the Church? Are the clouds rolling in, or is it all clear and fair overhead? We must care for the Church of God with sincere and thoughtful love; and now that empty religion and irreligion both threaten, let us observe the signs of the times and prepare for conflict.

“Watchman, what time of the night?” What stars are visible? What precious promises are relevant to our circumstances? You sound the alarm and also give us the consolation. Christ, like the North Star, is always fixed in His place, and all the stars are secure in the right hand of their Lord.

But, watchman, when comes the morning? The Bridegroom delays. Are there no signs of His appearing as the Sun of Righteousness? Hasn’t the morning star arisen as the pledge of day? When will the day dawn and the shadows flee away? O Jesus, if You don’t come in person to Your waiting Church today, still come in Spirit to my sighing heart, and make it sing for joy.

Now all the earth is bright and glad

With the fresh morn;

But all my heart is cold, and dark and sad:

Sun of the soul, let me behold Thy dawn!

Come, Jesus, Lord,

O quickly come, according to Thy word.

From: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/daily-devotionals/latest/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WCR8UteIwaWlAyP4o9ZIuAWio8l7qmAM1nDcB3pFiYr-jOUNkgMsShoC68IQAvD_BwE

Daily Devotional 8-5-21

The Seventh Beatitude: Pax or Hapax?

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt 5:9).

Pax, of course, is Latin for peace.

But, “Hapax?”

Yes. It’s short for hapax legomenon. It’s a transliteration from the Greek, and means, “a thing said only once.” Hapax (pronounced with an open “a” as in “hat”) denotes a term of which only one instance of use is recorded in an entire literary work or body of works. But pax (peace) and hapax (said only once) don’t seem to be related at all!

Oh yes, but they are. Let’s take a look.

Jesus pronounces on the peacemakers that wonderful blessing of Makarios, that profound blissful state of peace with God and all humanity, nature, the universe, a lasting, constantly overflowing contentment. But this term “peacemakers” is said only once in the entire New Testament! And it’s only right here in Matthew 5:9. Thus “peacemakers” is a hapax legomenon.

It’s as if one searches the entire New Testament for someone, at least one, outside of this beatitude, who would be given the qualifier of “peacemaker,” and yet no one is found. It seems no one qualifies. Granted, according to the rules of logic and persuasion, it is not quite legitimate to argue from silence. It is deemed to lead to faulty conclusions based on the absence of evidence rather than on the presence of evidence.

But yet, there it is. “Peacemakers” is a lonely noun in the New Testament. In the Greek, it is a noun made from combining two words, “peace” and “to make.”

Are there no peacemakers in the New Testament to whom the blessing of Makarios would apply? Not so fast. That indeed would be jumping to a faulty conclusion.

There is another related hapax legomenon in Colossians 1:15-20. The ending of that wonderful hymn of the early church exulting Christ contains it. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20). Did you see it? It’s right there in the last phrase, and it refers strictly to Christ. It is not a noun, but a verb in the past tense. It is literally, “having made peace.” This Greek verb is another hapax. It is found nowhere else in the New Testament, and it refers only to the work of Christ alone, through his blood alone.

Is it too much to infer that the bond between the hapax of the beatitude and the hapax of the Colossian hymn is one unique peacemaker? There is only one “peacemaker” who has made peace between humanity and God through his shed blood on the cross. There is the double hapax.

The evidence for this is the person of Christ himself.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). “For he himself is our peace” (Eph 2:14).

We might say, “well, the two peacemaker hapax are mere coincidences.” But it is no mere coincidence that Isaiah speaks of Christ as “The prince of peace.” It is in the singular. There is none other to whom the title applies. There are no other “princes of peace.” He alone is God’s hapax, that unique word through which God spoke peace only once to humanity. We heard that voice in the person of Jesus Christ, who spoke peace to us on the cross. There he said, “It is finished,” the peace-making process is over. Your sins are forgiven, you are now at peace with God.

There are no other “peacemakers” found in the entire New Testament to whom the blessing of Makarios applies.

But what about us? Our flesh always reacts with hurt pride when Christ alone is exalted. We always want to know where we fit in.

Truth is, we are no hapax peacemakers. We are children of wrath. We only know how to make war, not peace. We are born “at-war-ment” with each other and with God. Like the Israelites of old, we need someone to make “at-one-ment” with us.

Therein enters God’s hapax, Christ in himself being God’s gospel of peace who makes atonement for us. He takes on our wrath, suffers and dies as the casualty of our war, and brings us back to life as children of peace. This is his peace, which he has made on our behalf, and it forever remains his peace, for our warring nature remains at odds even with the peace he has made for us. Faith is given to us as the olive branch of peace to which we cling ever so gingerly. But it is his faith, and thus remains unbroken.

The peace process is also unique, it is also a hapax in human history. For Christ is not a peace emissary, or a peace envoy. He was not sent from God with a list of concessions God was willing to make in exchange for a few of our own. Or with a list of good works we would have to perform in order to obtain God’s concessions. God did not even ask for us to at least offer our good will in exchange for peace. Our good will is nothing but enmity against God. God made no concessions to obtain our peace. All God demanded for our peace was required of Christ, and Christ abundantly satisfied all demands.

But what about the beatitude? Doesn’t it issue a blessing to us as peacemakers? Are we totally left out of the peace process?

As to what is required, yes. We are totally left out.

But as we retell how God in Christ became our peace, we become peacemakers. The title “peacemakers” is not ours except as we tell and retell his peacemaking story. Scripture tells us that we are “peace proclaimers,” not “peacemakers.” Yet as we proclaim the peace God has unilaterally made with us, we become peacemakers.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isa 52:7). So is it pax or hapax? It is both in one, he who is our peace and who made peace for us once and for all.

But we are neither God’s pax (peace), nor God’s hapax (said only once). Those qualifiers belong only to Christ. Yet through faith and by grace alone, we receive and proclaim God’s eternal peace, and are thus called “the children of God.”

“The Lord bless you and keep you:

The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Num 6:24-26).

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/the-seventh-beatitude-pax-or-hapax

Daily Devotional 8-4-21

Nice People or New People…?

A question sometimes put to me is this: ‘Why are many non-churchgoers nicer than some who say they’re Christians?’ Shouldn’t we expect God’s people to be living lives reflecting Jesus’ teaching?

Certainly Paul the Apostle expects this. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1 he says: I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called…

His exhortation is more far-reaching than a specific set of rules, for it applies to areas of life that might be difficult to define. So, just as members of a family respected for its integrity, will want to uphold the good name of the family God’s people will want to live for the honor of God’s name.

Paul continues: … with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Concerned with how God’s people relate to others, he gives some specifics.

Humility and gentleness: the flip side is conceit and insensitivity. Conceited people tend to be so wrapped up in themselves that they rarely think of others. Indeed, sadly it is true that there are people within the church who are so consumed with their own interests that they are indifferent to others. Yet as we learn elsewhere, humility is needed if we are truly to experience God in our lives. We need to be honest with ourselves and with God about the self-interest that dominates our lives. Once we know the reality of God’s love what should be more natural than putting aside self-interest and indifference and practising humility and gentleness?

To this Paul adds, patience – literally longsuffering. The converse of longsuffering is a quick-fire temper that explodes at the least provocation.

A psychotherapist once observed that we all have sensitive areas in our personalities where our response is out of all proportion to a situation. It’s as though we have mine-fields in our lives. Some have very few mines and are much easier to relate to. However, there are others who have mines everywhere. Their ‘mines’ may be occasioned by a lack of self-confidence or a point of view, such as political correctness, that is so strongly held that no discussion will be tolerated. These people are not easy to get on with. And so, if a group of ten people come together for an enterprise, it only takes one person who is a walking mine-field to destroy the morale and endeavor of the group.

Unity. God’s people are also to bear with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4:3).

In 1 Corinthians 12:3 we learn that God’s Spirit awakens us and draws us to the Lord Jesus. And in 12:13 Paul tells us that all God’s people, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, slave or free, are baptized into one body. While the Spirit imparts a unity among God’s people within churches and across churches, we are responsible for working this out in practice. And here we have a resource and a model that no-one else has: the character of God. God is not without his points of conflict with us, but he is patient and has provided the example of bearing with us in love. In his love he doesn’t hold grudges and he doesn’t let his anger turn into bitterness. Rather, he is willing to forgive us when we fail him and turn back to him.

And so we are called upon to be willing to forgive one another when we have wronged one another. It is inconsistent with our calling to be argumentative, resentful, and complaining.

That said, we mustn’t misunderstand Paul. He is not saying that we should put up with anything. He goes on to write: But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,… (4:15). To be long-suffering doesn’t mean that that we never rebuke, admonish, or exhort one another. We are called to be non-judgmental. The quality we are to adopt is the spirit of love: love for God and love for people.

Furthermore, Paul has already said in this Letter that our relationship with God is not based on our ‘niceness’ or our good works, but strictly on the grounds of God’s grace: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast (2:8-9).

As there’s no room for pride or boasting in our relationship with God, so there’s no place for arrogance and aggressiveness in our relationships with one another. ‘Be humble and gentle with one another,’ Paul says. This is not weakness but strength. It is only the strong person who can be humble, only the strong person who can be tender.

Niceness. To return to the question of ‘niceness’. Wonderful though it would be if everyone in the world was ‘nice’, God has a greater interest. He is committed to rescuing and creating a new people whom he knows as ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’ and who know him as ‘Father’. People around us may seem ‘nice’ but none of us are ‘good’ in God’s eyes. Our rescue involved Jesus’ crucifixion.

And so there will be ‘nice’ people, and countless others who aren’t necessarily nice at all, who need to be aware of their need to turn to Christ Jesus with repentant hearts. On the other hand, all of God’s people are, in varying ways and varying degrees, a work in progress.

Let’s pray for God’s grace that we may lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called…

A prayer. Teach us, gracious Lord, to begin our works with reverence, to go on in obedience, and finish them with love; and then to wait patiently in hope, and with cheerful countenance to look up to you, whose promises are faithful and rewards infinite; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/nice-people-or-new-people/

Daily Devotional 8-3-21

Unraveling the Mystery

The place we will occupy in the future will be similar to places we occupy now, but there will also be differences. The heavenly place will be a place of manifest glory. Our bodies will have continuity with our present bodies. There will also be discontinuity. Our new bodies are shrouded in mystery—we see through the glass darkly. Yet we receive hints about our glorified bodies by comparisons with Jesus, as well as by His words that we will be “like the angels” (Matt. 22:30).

Paul gives further hints: After discussing various kinds of bodies we experience on this planet, and various levels of glory of created objects, he adds: “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:42–44, NIV).

We understand corruption, dishonor, weakness, and natural bodies. Only by contrast or eminence do we contemplate an incorruptible, glorified, powerful, spiritual body. The new body will be clothed with immortality. It will receive a garment it does not presently or intrinsically possess.

Coram Deo

Spend some time in worship, thanking God for the eternal destiny He has planned for you.

Passages for Further Study

1 Corinthians 15:42–44

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/unraveling-mystery/

Daily Devotional 8-2-21

Understanding the Future

When we ask questions about matters that elude our full understanding, we tend to look for models or patterns that are similar to what we do understand. We seek for clues to a new and different paradigm. The shift from earthbound thinking to conceiving of heaven is a massive paradigm shift.

To speak of our mysterious future is to search for analogies that will give us a hint about what to expect. We cannot say what heaven is, but the Bible does give us hints as to what it is like. We try to imagine the unknown in the light of what is known. John tells us: “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

We do not know for sure to whom the “He” and the “Him” refer. Do they refer to God the Father or to Christ? God the Father is the subject of the preceding verses, but what follows seems to indicate Christ.

The difficulty of the reference is mollified when we realize that to be Christ-like is to be God-like. The firstfruits image of Christ in His resurrection indicates that, ultimately, we shall be like Christ. As Christ rose with a glorified body, we too will enjoy glorified bodies at the final resurrection.

Coram Deo

Pause a few moments to think about your eternal future in heaven.

Passages for Further Study

1 John 3:2

Psalm 17:15

1 Corinthians 15:51

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/understanding-future/